United States presidential election, 1916

The United States presidential election, 1916 was held on 7 November 1916. The Democratic Party incumbent Woodrow Wilson and his running mate Thomas R. Marshall defeated the Republican Party nominee Charles E. Hughes and his running mate Charles W. Fairbanks with 277 electoral votes to Hughes' 254. Wilson was a conservative, and he sought to avoid war in Europe or Mexico at the time of World War I and the Mexican Revolution; his progressive opponent, Hughes, criticized Wilson for not making the necessary preparations for the conflict. Wilson was hailed as the anti-war candidate, and he won by a narrow margin, winning 49.2% of the popular vote to Hughes' 46.1%.